Posted on 05/31/2014 11:28:34 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Wearing a cap with lots of cables attached, pilots in the simulator were able to land a plane simply by looking at the screen and moving the control stick with their thoughts, correcting the plane’s position repeatedly until it landed.
To achieve the breakthrough, the researchers connected electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes to a cap to measure the pilot’s brain waves. An algorithm created by Berlin Institute of Technology scientists enabled a program to decipher the brain waves and convert them into commands fed into the plane’s control system.
Once it’s perfected, brain-controlled flight could reduce pilot workload and increase safety. Freeing up pilots’ hands would give them freedom of movement to manage other manual tasks in the cockpit.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
Firefox.
What happens if the pilot’s thoughts drift to, say, the last pretty girl he dated? (Answer: sudden intense turbulence onboard)?
As a pilot I would much rather have a thought driven system do things like load an approach, change a freq, pull up a checklist. The distractors and hazards to aviation aren’t associated with proper manipulation of the controls as much as the things that take your attention away from manipulating the controls. Getting stuck in a finger fire screwing up loading an approach or selecting a freq is way more dangerous. It would be a lot easier to fly with your hands and think “load the RANGER 3 Arrival.” It is also a lot easier to tactily feel performance in the flight controls than wonder if you are thinking correctly.
I didn’t realize flying a plane was so physically taxing.
The old “pilot workload” argument always seemed to be debated the loudest by those with the least skin in the fight. Designers (limited by current technology) and pencil necks (whipping the budgets) against those who actually flew the end product. One of the best all around discussions and reviews I was part of was the joint AF and MDC design teams for the cockpits of the C17. It just seemed that the level of cooperation was better balanced (healthier?) for the scope of the work involved.
Pray that a shapely first flight attendant doesn’t appear without warning. Pow! Zoom! To the moon!
This is nothing new. Aliens have been doing it in flying saucers for years...
What would happen if he had sudden thoughts of Allah?
Astounding accomplishments like this should make it easier for doubters to believe in God. With humans, astounding things are possible. With God, all things are possible and are waiting to be discovered.
“What would happen if he had sudden thoughts of Allah?”
His head explodes
Similar experience. Too many times engineers design things the way they think aircrew want them. Aircrew do a poor job of thinking through and then communicating what they want. You end up with the “A” model and a bunch of problems. Never fly an “A” model if you can help it.
This was predicated by a Warner Bros. cartoon in which Porky Pig flies a voice-directed airplane. It’s hilarious. Of course, the liberals don’t think it’s funny.
I remember they were doing this back in the 1980’s IIRC.
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